First-Class Stamps to Go Up 2 Cents
- Thread starter jazz lady
- Start date
L
ladylara
Guest
at least they waited until AFTER christmas! bought mine today for mah cards... cuuuute christmas cookies! now if they'd just make some cute hannukah ones instead of the same boring ones every year.
Chasey_Lane
Salt Life
That's a pretty good idea, Ken.Ken King said:
There are cable contractors, satellite contractors, why not postal contractors? :shrug:
Many postal carriers are already contractors (at least some of the rural ones). I'm talking about doing away with the USPS entirely and letting companies like Mail-Box ETC, UPS, FED-EX, DHL, and others do it since they do daily deliveries anyway.Chasey_Lane said:That's a pretty good idea, Ken.
HorseLady
Painted Spirit
I remember a long, long, long time ago when there used to be one phone company. Someone thought it would be a good idea to break it up and have more competion. So they divided it up, canned employees who lost all they put in the company if they didn't agree to concessions, and lo and behold - now we are seeing merges of the former small companies! I don't see anything good coming out of privatizing the postal service. I am a little prejudiced though - I'm a rural mail carrier. Just my thought.
It's going up to $.39, are you offering a $.09 reduction in the next rate.HorseLady said:
The USPS has some 800,000 permanent employees and about 100,000 temporary ones. The annual budget of over $60 billion could be used elsewhere since there are other companies doing essentially the same function that could continue the work and generate additional tax revenue for the Fed. Not to mention the better deal the USPS has for their employees health benefit plans where the USPS picks up about 1/3 more of the employee contribution then what the typical Federal employees pay, we won't even discuss the retirement benefits and those associated expenses. Also consider that at least weekly I get someone else's mail delivered to my rural box (and I walk down the street and place it in the correct box since returning it to the outgoing mail with an attached note stating "NOT THIS ADDRESS" does no good), how effective is the USPS? Additionally, I have read somewhere that first class mail moves 15 to 20 percent slower then it did back in 1969. If this is so, then why maintain a relic when most other areas of the Fed are being directed to outsource when comparable functions are being preformed by the private sector?
What makes you think that private companies would charge that kind of rate? In a suppossed market arena with a volume estimated at 200 billion articles annually (first-class mail), do you really feel that the cost would be that extreme?MMDad said:
MMDad
Lem Putt
Ken King said:
FEDEX Ground starts at $3.62 and goes up from there. Slower than first class.
UPS starts at $6.65.
What makes you think anything could be cheaper than USPS? Think about infrastructure - who would pay for that? Answer: customers. Once the infrastructure was actually in place, we'd start paying to upgrade and improve that infrastructure. Prices would never drop.
The rate hasn't increased since 2002, and will go up a mere two cents. That's less than 5.5 percent in four years. Not much to complain about.
Privatizing usually involves the transfer of current infrastructure, does it not? No cost to the companies taking over the task except for continued overhead/improvement costs. With nearly a million employees on the books (and what I suspect are far too many managerial types) I think it could be contracted out to save money.MMDad said:
Postal rates (first-class) have gone up over a 1000% since the 1950s when in 1958 the rate went to $.04 from the $.03 rate that had been unchanged for about 100 years. Compared to 1969 it now takes 15% to 20% more time for an article to reach its destination. So prices haven't stopped going up as service has declined (now that is effiency). Even this rate increase is unneeded according to the article as it is being done to turn the USPS into a government run for-profit organization.
MMDad
Lem Putt
Ken King said:
Your numbers are irrelevant since the post office was subsidized until the early '80's. Since then, the postage rate has been consistent with inflation, averaging about a penny per year increase.
New Zealand and Sweden are often held up as shining examples of privatized postal systems. In U.S. $, the New Zealand rate is 64 cents, and Sweden is 72 cents. That's for countries the size of Colorado and California. Not much of a bargain, is it?
No more irrelevant then comparing these foriegn nations to the USA. For instance what are their gasoline prices as compared to ours? New Zealand is paying an average $1.40 USD per liter and Sweden is at $1.54 USD per liter. While ours is right around $.70 per liter.MMDad said:
Do you work for the USPS by chance?
Bump
Selected Rate Changes and Fee and Service Changes:
POSTAL RATE INCREASE
The U.S. Postal service board of governors voted to accept the postal rate commissions recommendations to increase most postal rates and fees by 5.4 percent. The new rates take effect 8 January 2006. The rate increase fulfills the requirement of a federal law enacted in 2003 requiring the postal service to establish a $3.1 billion escrow account.
Selected Rate Changes and Fee and Service Changes:
- SELECTED RATE CHANGES CURRENT NEW
FIRST-CLASS LETTER (1 OZ.) .37 .39
FIRST-CLASS LETTER (2 OZ.) .60 .63
POSTCARD .23 .24
PRIORITY MAIL (1 LB.) $3.85 $4.05
EXPRESS MAIL (1/2 LB.) $13.65 $14.40
EXPRESS MAIL (2 LB.) $17.85 $18.80
FEE AND SERVICE CHANGES CURRENT NEW
CERTIFIED MAIL $2.30 $2.40
DELIVERY CONFIRMATION (PRIORITY) .45 .50
DELIVERY CONFIRMATION (FIRST CLASS .55 .60
PARCELS).
RETURN RECEIPT (ORIGINAL SIGNATURE) $1.75 $1.85
RETURN RECEIPT (ELECTRONIC) $1.30 $1.35
- SELECTED RATE CHANGES CURRENT NEW